Niners Wanted To Make Rodgers Look Bad

[pbmax]

The PFT Rumormill, where there is always something to make you feel a little better, even though it may have no relation to reality.

Niners Wanted To Make Rodgers Look Bad (http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/08/17/niners-wanted-to-make-rodgers-look-bad/)

[falco]

i was a little surprised by how much the 49ers blitzed and schemed, normally preseason is much more vanilla

[pbmax]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.

[Rastak]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

[falco]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

either way, you won't catch MM or anybody with the packers organization complaining about it - they stunk up the joint, no excuses

[pbmax]

Rastak, you seem very close to endorsing a line of thinking that suggests there are shades of grey in our reality and that nothing is ever as simple as a binary choice of who to assign blame to; Rodgers/McCarthy/Thompson or Favre.

I don't think there is any room on the intertubes for that kind nuanced, perceptive and open minded thinking. For shame.



Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

[Bretsky]

Rastak, you seem very close to endorsing a line of thinking that suggests there are shades of grey in our reality and that nothing is ever as simple as a binary choice of who to assign blame to; Rodgers/McCarthy/Thompson or Favre.

I don't think there is any room on the intertubes for that kind nuanced, perceptive and open minded thinking. For shame.



Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.


Absolutely Spot On

[Freak Out]

Rastak, you seem very close to endorsing a line of thinking that suggests there are shades of grey in our reality and that nothing is ever as simple as a binary choice of who to assign blame to; Rodgers/McCarthy/Thompson or Favre.

I don't think there is any room on the intertubes for that kind nuanced, perceptive and open minded thinking. For shame.



Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

:lol:

[mmmdk]

i was a little surprised by how much the 49ers blitzed and schemed, normally preseason is much more vanilla

Good for Rodgers! No vanilla please; our QB has no NFL starts and needs the experience. Back on the horse and get better.

[pack4to84]

i was a little surprised by how much the 49ers blitzed and schemed, normally preseason is much more vanilla

Good for Rodgers! No vanilla please; our QB has no NFL starts and needs the experience. Back on the horse and get better.What I was thinking. 49ers sent 6 men at Rodgers on his first drop back. He also showed he could take a hit(like 8 of them). Just want to limit how many more he takes. Please fix the OL.

[RashanGary]

What I thought was weird was that he'd drop back and look to be ready to release the ball, but he'd just stop as if the route was jumped. This happened probably 5 or 10 times.

Whatever SF was doing, Rodgers thought based on the defense one thing would be open (based on him looking to be unloading) and when the ball was snapped, that one thing was covered (based on him holding on to the ball rather than letting it go).



Rodgers did start off pretty well except for the drops but after that he did not have time to complete any of the deeper patterns. I'll have to go back over it, but my guess is that SF was jumping short routes and the OL was making it impossible for the deep routes to develop. The one positive thing of this whole disaster is that I have a feeling thier OL experiments will be over. I have a feeling that whoever they think the starting OG's and OC are will be on the field this week, all week and they will be there until the regular season opener.

[motife]

Here's a comment from an NFL scout on the 49ers blitzes before the PFT comment appeared :


"The 49ers threw a lot of stuff at him. Too much for an exhibition. They were really trying to make plays."

[Pacopete4]

the one that ticked me off was the corner blitz that he didn't see... thats something he needs to improve on is seeing stuff at the line of scrimmage and making changes to the play to be able to put himself in a successful play

[cpk1994]

What I thought was weird was that he'd drop back and look to be ready to release the ball, but he'd just stop as if the route was jumped. This happened probably 5 or 10 times.

Whatever SF was doing, Rodgers thought based on the defense one thing would be open (based on him looking to be unloading) and when the ball was snapped, that one thing was covered (based on him holding on to the ball rather than letting it go).



Rodgers did start off pretty well except for the drops but after that he did not have time to complete any of the deeper patterns. I'll have to go back over it, but my guess is that SF was jumping short routes and the OL was making it impossible for the deep routes to develop. The one positive thing of this whole disaster is that I have a feeling thier OL experiments will be over. I have a feeling that whoever they think the starting OG's and OC are will be on the field this week, all week and they will be there until the regular season opener.I have a suggestion, how about they go back to the lineup they used at the end of the year least year?

[FritzDontBlitz]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

either way, you won't catch MM or anybody with the packers organization complaining about it - they stunk up the joint, no excuses

I beg to differ.


“There were a lot of mental mistakes on offense at every position,” Rodgers said. “Myself, I made some poor decisions.

“I think when you’re facing a defense that plays multiple fronts you have to be good with communication and I don’t think we communicated as well as we wanted to coming into the game. I think the receivers, there were some mental mistakes as well.”
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=784295

I'm really starting to get concerned with Rodgers' habit of criticizing his teammates in every interview. Talk about yourself and let the coach evaluate the rest of the team. If he keeps this up he's going to lose the respect of his teammates.

[Pacopete4]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

either way, you won't catch MM or anybody with the packers organization complaining about it - they stunk up the joint, no excuses

I beg to differ.


“There were a lot of mental mistakes on offense at every position,” Rodgers said. “Myself, I made some poor decisions.

“I think when you’re facing a defense that plays multiple fronts you have to be good with communication and I don’t think we communicated as well as we wanted to coming into the game. I think the receivers, there were some mental mistakes as well.”
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=784295

I'm really starting to get concerned with Rodgers' habit of criticizing his teammates in every interview. Talk about yourself and let the coach evaluate the rest of the team. If he keeps this up he's going to lose the respect of his teammates.



Agree... thats where he should take a page from Brett and even if you know it was someone else's fault, just tell the press its yours and put the blame on yourself....

[cpk1994]

Florio and his speculator/source missed an opportunity to go for the bankshot conspiracy theory, though. Nolan might not have wanted to be embarrassed by former employee. Especially one who took his team to the NFC Championship game while Nolan was still busy finding a replacement O coordinator.


The speculation makes alot of sense but teams do blitz in the preseason. That's not a real unusual event. I can see where Rodgers tearing them up could make them look stupid. In the end, I would guess they are working on things, getting ready for the season like every other team.

either way, you won't catch MM or anybody with the packers organization complaining about it - they stunk up the joint, no excuses

I beg to differ.


“There were a lot of mental mistakes on offense at every position,” Rodgers said. “Myself, I made some poor decisions.

“I think when you’re facing a defense that plays multiple fronts you have to be good with communication and I don’t think we communicated as well as we wanted to coming into the game. I think the receivers, there were some mental mistakes as well.”
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=784295

I'm really starting to get concerned with Rodgers' habit of criticizing his teammates in every interview. Talk about yourself and let the coach evaluate the rest of the team. If he keeps this up he's going to lose the respect of his teammates.



Agree... thats where he should take a page from Brett and even if you know it was someone else's fault, just tell the press its yours and put the blame on yourself....Brett took the blame? Don't make me laugh.

[Zool]

Aaron also said that he himself made the majority of the mistakes but he didn't call out any one person, just the entire offense. Maybe he shouldnt do that but I really cant say how they would react. If I was one of the fuck-ups on that offense this week, I would just nod my head.

[MadtownPacker]

I recall after one series Driver being real pissed off about something and getting into one of the assistants face. Right after the Lee drop in the endzone I think. Whatever it was he was supermad.

[MJZiggy]

He did something similar when they got shellacked by the Ravens a couple years ago. At the end of the game, I went down right behind their bench only to see Driver come off the field an kick the bench. I was pissed at him because he could have broken a toe and then where would we have been?

[Lurker64]

I think one of the things I've noticed in the preseason games in the McCarthy era (so I have 10 data points here, so that's something) is that the Packers don't scheme for preseason games, being that McCarthy's best offensive games are often the ones in which he surprises people with his schemes (so I imagine that's his goal) and our defense is fairly vanilla most of the time. So we show up at games and both the Offense and the Defense play "vanilla" not wanting to give anything away or just wanting to work on execution of the basic sets and/or evaluate guys. Once upon a time this was the standard among all NFL teams, so I don't fault McCarthy for doing it. However, in recent years something I've seen for many teams (particularly 3-4 teams on defense) is that there are teams that do have aggressive schemes planned for the season, and they want to get reps in using those less-vanilla schemes in the preseason games, in preparation for the regular season.

A lot of times what happens (not just in Packer games but in other preseason games) is that one team will come out intending to call a vanilla game, and the other team will come in wanting to practice crazy aggressive defensive plays and weird gimmicky offensive plays, and the team that comes out aggressive for the preseason often kills the vanilla team, regardless of the relative levels of talent.

Also keep in mind that the teams which are the most talented are often the teams that gun it the least in the preseason. Last year Indianapolis was 1-3 in the preseason, as were the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, the 16-0 regular season New England Patriots were 2-2 in the preseason, and on the other side of things the woeful Chicago Bears were 3-1 in the preseason.

So I wonder how much if this is just "some teams make a point of trying to win preseason games, and others don't."

[Pacopete4]

Lurker, I think you are right. Some teams seem to come out with some sort of game plan and I don't see that with McCarthy. I see him do his basic plays so he can grade each player and make an assessment on them. One of the sweet things about McCarthy that I love is that he loves fundamentals. Just like in any sport if you can't do the fundamentals consistently, you don't become a very good player/team.

[pbmax]

Bedard at JSO reported before and after the game that the Packers prepared for this game more than he had seen any other team plan for a 2nd preseason game.

[retailguy]

Bedard at JSO reported before and after the game that the Packers prepared for this game more than he had seen any other team plan for a 2nd preseason game.

Good lord. If that's true..... I shudder to think about that. I hope it was just jitters, or bad coffee on the plane.

[Pacopete4]

Bedard at JSO reported before and after the game that the Packers prepared for this game more than he had seen any other team plan for a 2nd preseason game.

Good lord. If that's true..... I shudder to think about that. I hope it was just jitters, or bad coffee on the plane.



Ya, that would be terrible... or it could be they just prepared better and executed better while we sat there and took it and didn't seem to have an answer for anything they did all night.. I hope to see a little more fire under their asses in the future

[Zool]

I hope to see a little more fire under their asses in the future

Better be there 4 days from now. I don't even care about a loss, but at least make it look like its 2 NFL teams on the field. The starters will go into the 3rd against the Broncos so its a pretty good barometer.

[Pacopete4]

Good test for our defense as Cutler has looked to be coming of age so far thru preseason (yes, I know its preseason)

[DonHutson]

Who cares what the 49ers intentions were? They're all gonna want to make him look bad starting in three weeks. The Packers better find a way to handle it. Hopefully it provided a learning opportunity... or a kick in the ass, whichever term you prefer.

[Guiness]

Although pft's article is pure conjecture, don't discount the egos of the people that made the pick, and wanting AR to look bad so their pick of Smith doesn't look atrocious, as in 'we could've picked the other, but see, they're both bad'.

There's also the fact that they're a bad team, and with the stuff they pulled, are obviously trying to evaluate the effectiveness of plays, formations, etc. MM's vanilla schemes, as Lurker pointed out, allow better evaluation of players as individuals. If you have the DL do a stunt, it's hard to evaluate the players individually. If you have them all just try and get through their guy, or beat the double team thrown at them, you can see how that player does.

Well it's ok to try and go back over the game and watch for stuff, I would absolutely kill to see the film the Packers have for review after a game. I'd like to be able to watch, for instance, Bush on four or five consecutive plays to see if he's getting beat every time, or just blew it once or twice...

[SnakeLH2006]

What I thought was weird was that he'd drop back and look to be ready to release the ball, but he'd just stop as if the route was jumped. This happened probably 5 or 10 times.

Whatever SF was doing, Rodgers thought based on the defense one thing would be open (based on him looking to be unloading) and when the ball was snapped, that one thing was covered (based on him holding on to the ball rather than letting it go).



Rodgers did start off pretty well except for the drops but after that he did not have time to complete any of the deeper patterns. I'll have to go back over it, but my guess is that SF was jumping short routes and the OL was making it impossible for the deep routes to develop. The one positive thing of this whole disaster is that I have a feeling thier OL experiments will be over. I have a feeling that whoever they think the starting OG's and OC are will be on the field this week, all week and they will be there until the regular season opener.I have a suggestion, how about they go back to the lineup they used at the end of the year least year?

He's a Jet now.

[Pugger]

If SF did throw the kitchen sink at AR all I can say is "Thanks!" :) AR needs to see as much stuff as possible before the regular season begins and situations like last week are just what the doctor ordered.

[sheepshead]

Anyone see the 49ers Bears game? I dont think Orton was even hurried very often and the Bears OL is simply bad.

[retailguy]

Anyone see the 49ers Bears game? I dont think Orton was even hurried very often and the Bears OL is simply bad.

Apparently their OL is better than ours. If that's not the case, then Orton is better than ARod and I'm not ready to go there yet....

[cpk1994]

What I thought was weird was that he'd drop back and look to be ready to release the ball, but he'd just stop as if the route was jumped. This happened probably 5 or 10 times.

Whatever SF was doing, Rodgers thought based on the defense one thing would be open (based on him looking to be unloading) and when the ball was snapped, that one thing was covered (based on him holding on to the ball rather than letting it go).



Rodgers did start off pretty well except for the drops but after that he did not have time to complete any of the deeper patterns. I'll have to go back over it, but my guess is that SF was jumping short routes and the OL was making it impossible for the deep routes to develop. The one positive thing of this whole disaster is that I have a feeling thier OL experiments will be over. I have a feeling that whoever they think the starting OG's and OC are will be on the field this week, all week and they will be there until the regular season opener.I have a suggestion, how about they go back to the lineup they used at the end of the year least year?

He's a Jet now.I was referring to the OL, smartass.

[GBRulz]

Snake's response still had to make you laugh though, cpk? Ok, a chuckle? How about a smile, at least? :lol:

[mraynrand]

Who cares what the 49ers intentions were? They're all gonna want to make him look bad starting in three weeks. The Packers better find a way to handle it. Hopefully it provided a learning opportunity... or a kick in the ass, whichever term you prefer.

both

[KYPack]

Bedard at JSO reported before and after the game that the Packers prepared for this game more than he had seen any other team plan for a 2nd preseason game.


I saw that, too.

It seemed funny. MM himself admitted post game that he didn't have the time to get things in with the short time between games, travel, etc. I don't think he could have prepared for this game given the crisp timeframe.

Spitz, for one, sure as hell wasn't ready to play, along with a bunch of his teammates.

[Harlan Huckleby]

jeez, Rodgers didn't have a horrible game. There were a maximum of two plays where he held on to the ball too long.

[sheepshead]

Anyone see the 49ers Bears game? I dont think Orton was even hurried very often and the Bears OL is simply bad.

Apparently their OL is better than ours. If that's not the case, then Orton is better than ARod and I'm not ready to go there yet....

both teams are bad, i was referencing the topic of this thread

[retailguy]

Anyone see the 49ers Bears game? I dont think Orton was even hurried very often and the Bears OL is simply bad.

Apparently their OL is better than ours. If that's not the case, then Orton is better than ARod and I'm not ready to go there yet....

both teams are bad, i was referencing the topic of this thread

I agree with you, but I'm concerned that a "bad team" could purposely make us look "bad" even in the preseason. They didn't make the Bears OL "look bad" and that concerns me.

[Cleft Crusty]

jeez, Rodgers didn't have a horrible game. There were a maximum of two plays where he held on to the ball too long.

He really didn't play enough to have a horrible game. And the line didn't do him any favors. He did hold the ball too long on a few tosses, but the worry is that he's not reading the defense pre snap, and that he has a bit of tunnel vision for his primary receiver. That's not to say that he's hopeless at all. Just that he's a new starter with virtually no experience and he's going to struggle getting comfortable. How long he struggles will determine the outcome of the season.

[retailguy]

jeez, Rodgers didn't have a horrible game. There were a maximum of two plays where he held on to the ball too long.

He really didn't play enough to have a horrible game. And the line didn't do him any favors. He did hold the ball too long on a few tosses, but the worry is that he's not reading the defense pre snap, and that he has a bit of tunnel vision for his primary receiver. That's not to say that he's hopeless at all. Just that he's a new starter with virtually no experience and he's going to struggle getting comfortable. How long he struggles will determine the outcome of the season.

I don't think Rodgers was the problem at all. I think the line was the biggest thing you can point to, in order to explain what happened.

Rodgers is brand new in terms of starting. He needs to be able to rely on his line, so he can start doing the things Cleft is talking about. Right now, he can't.

Rodgers reminded me of Jeff Garcia in his last season with SF and his season in Cleveland. The guy had "happy feet" like you couldn't believe, because he never knew when or where the next hit was coming from. He had ZERO confidence in his line, with good reason.

In that regard, Rodgers looked a bit "hesitant". That could lead to "locking on to the primary receiver" real easily...

[MadtownPacker]

He did hold the ball too long on a few tosses, but the worry is that he's not reading the defense pre snap, and that he has a bit of tunnel vision for his primary receiver.

This is what has me concerned as well.

Check out this example. He has the FB right in front of him waving his hands wide open and is even looking his direction with time but instead tucks in it and runs.

VIDEO LINK (http://www.packerrats.com/gallery/media/081608/arod.wmv)

[Cleft Crusty]

He did hold the ball too long on a few tosses, but the worry is that he's not reading the defense pre snap, and that he has a bit of tunnel vision for his primary receiver.

This is what has me concerned as well.

Check out this example. He has the FB right in front of him waving his hands wide open and is even looking his direction with time but instead tucks in it and runs.

VIDEO LINK (http://www.packerrats.com/gallery/media/081608/arod.wmv)

I agree, of course. interesting video - I like the part where the FB is waving. (One edit: I should note that by the time the FB waves, it's too late to throw it - Rodgers has already moved too far to the right and the throw would be back across the formation. Problem is that Rodgers never looked to the FB)

—

[Guiness]

This is what has me concerned as well.

Check out this example. He has the FB right in front of him waving his hands wide open and is even looking his direction with time but instead tucks in it and runs.

VIDEO LINK (http://www.packerrats.com/gallery/media/081608/arod.wmv)

Ouch. It looks like he did glance over at the FB. Did he just not see him?

[Harlan Huckleby]

for a guy who has never started an NFL game, Rodgers is doing a bang-up job. He's gonna get better at reading defenses, there is no substitute for lvie experience.

By the end of this season, I think he could be really special.

[esoxx]

By the end of the season I think you could be special....Jerry Lewis style

[SnakeLH2006]

By the end of the season I think you could be special....Jerry Lewis style

http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2007/09/Jerry%20Lewis.jpg